1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for hair coloring, and, more particularly to such an apparatus and such a method by which a coloring material is applied only to certain portions of the hair, with a coloring comb being used to divide the hair into strands, some of which are treated using the coloring material.
2. Summary of the Background Art
Methods for hair coloring have been used since ancient times, when materials such as henna, indigo, sage, and chamomile were used. In the Roman Empire, dark haired women who admired the blonde hair of female slaves imported from northern Europe lightened their own hair using saffron, red arsenic, nut shells, and plant ash. In the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, synthetic dyes came into use for hair coloring, and hydrogen peroxide came into widespread use as a bleaching agent.
While it is relatively easy to change the color of a person's hair as a whole by dyeing or bleaching, the results of applying such a process uniformly to all of the hair are generally disappointing, which the hair acquiring an uninteresting uniform color. Therefore, such a process is generally followed by another step, in which selected portions of the hair are lightened, in a process known as streaking, or darkened, in a process known as reverse streaking.
The method most commonly used today for coloring selected portions of the hair is the foil method, in which the stylist isolates a strand of hair to lie along the upper surface of a sheet of foil having an edge held against the head near the roots of the strand of hair. (As the term is used herein, a strand of hair is a bundle of individual hair shafts, all of which have roots in a small section of the scalp.) The selected strand is then treated by the application of coloring material, being isolated from adjacent portions of the hair with the foil, and the foil is then folded around the strand to continue providing a barrier preventing migration of the coloring material to other parts of the hair during time necessary to provide the desired treatment.
One problem with the foil method arises from the cost of the large number of foil sheets that must be used to treat the hair of an individual and from the space required for their disposal or the costs of recycling the material. The time required for the completion of the process is also disadvantageous in its effects on the cost of the process and on the discomfort of the individual whose hair is being treated. Furthermore, since the strands of hair being treated are covered by the foil, it is difficult for the stylist using this method to track the progress of the treatment, often resulting, for example, in the overbleaching of certain strands of hair being streaked.
Before the strands of hair can be placed on individual foil panels and treated with coloring materials, the hair must be separated into strands. For example, this is done by weaving the hair using an ordinary rattail comb, having an comb section with ordinary teeth from which a pointed extension, or rattail, extends. The comb section is used to shape each strand, and the strands are individually placed to extend across alternating sides of the rattail, in a woven fashion.
The patent literature includes a number of descriptions of hair weaving combs having various features facilitating this hair weaving process. For example, one such comb includes a set of legs extending from an elongate support member, with distal end portions of the legs including hair separating teeth for separating a section of hair into sub-sections. When the legs of the comb are initially inserted into a section of hair, the teeth create sub-sections of hair. When the legs are further inserted in the section of hair, the teeth group and displace alternate hair subsections away from other alternate hair sub-sections. The other alternate hair sub-sections are bypassed by the teeth and slide into hair-receiving slots formed between the spaced-apart legs of the hair weaving comb. When the legs are still further inserted through the hair section, the displaced hair sub-sections are pushed out of a hairstylist's hand and readily fall out of the teeth of the distal end of the comb and down to the head of the customer.
An alternative hair weaving comb includes teeth with a single hook located in the forward inside edge of each tooth. When the teeth are drawn through the hair the hooks engage multiple uniformly spaced strands of hair in a single movement. Another hair weaving comb includes an elongated panel at one end for supporting foil and hair during a coloring procedure or other treatment. The panel comprises a comb portion on one side thereof with a curved tooth at the end of the panel adjacent to the comb portion. A handle portion is secured to the panel and is tapered inwardly toward the other end of the tool. An elongated pick extends outwardly from the handle portion at the other end of the tool for separating, weaving and preparing hair to be colored or treated. Yet another hair weaving comb includes features facilitating the application of hair coloring materials, in the form of a concave spoon-shaped depression adjacent to the comb teeth for holding the coloring material and a rounded end for spreading the material into the hair.
The patent literature additionally includes a number of descriptions of coloring combs for treating selected strands of hair by means of coloring material fed through enclosed channels formed within the spine of the comb and extending to openings at roots of the comb between certain adjacent teeth of the comb. As the comb is moved through the hair, strands flowing between these certain adjacent teeth are treated with the coloring material, while strands following between other adjacent teeth are not treated. These combs additionally include reservoirs holding the coloring material and a pumping mechanism that the stylist can use to supply material through the channels to the openings between teeth within the comb. In some of these devices, the reservoir is a flexible member that can be squeezed to provide a pumping action.
For example, a coloring comb may be formed as an elongated tube having a plurality of spaced-apart groups of teeth, with an opening between each pair of adjacent teeth within each of the groups, and with a channel within the elongated tub connected the openings between adjacent teeth to a squeeze bottle holding a coloring material. As this comb is moved through the hair, strands of hair flowing through the groups of teeth are treated, while strands of hair flowing within spaces between the groups of teeth are not treated. A frosting comb may be formed by connecting holes between adjacent teeth with a hand-pumped reservoir filled with coloring material, with the rate of flow of material through the holes being controlled by an adapter plate having a first plurality of metering holes aligned with the holes within the comb and a second plurality of holes fitting over the teeth.
An alternative apparatus for hair dyeing can be formed by providing a comb having teeth extending from one side of a spine, while spaced-apart tufts of bristles extend from the other side, along with an applicator that is removably clipped onto the spine of the comb. The applicator includes a tubular member with a channel connecting a squeeze bottle to a plurality of nozzles disposed between certain of the tufts of the bristles.
A disadvantage of such hair coloring combs arises from the fact that the combs need to be cleaned between customers, sometimes between the application of different hair coloring materials to a single customer, and otherwise as required to keep coloring material from drying within the comb. The channels or tubes extending between the reservoir and holes through which the coloring material is applied to the hair make this necessary cleaning difficult. Furthermore, the requirement that the coloring material must flow through such channels or tubes generally limits the coloring combs to use with a liquid coloring material. What is needed is an apparatus for the selective coloring of hair that is easy to use and clean, and that can be used with hair coloring of hair that is easy to use and clean, and that can be used with hair coloring paste materials.